When Laura left him, isolation took her place. Some
days, the aloneness felt like a mishap. Like when you
drop your popcorn on the ground at the county fair.
The crowd walks by sending you sentiments.
Sympathy. Bemusement. Other days, the loneliness
felt like a form of exile. Solitary. He kept the TV on
to fill the quiet. Then the lonesomeness turned into
an adventure. He became a ghost who had come back
to see what time had done to the city.